armageddon

plural armageddons

1. countableuncountableAlternative letter-case form of Armageddon.

   In comparison to [Richard] Nixon-Mao [Zedong], terrorism and armageddon, Anna Nicole Smith [as the subject of Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera Anna Nicole (2011)] may seem lightweight, but it could prove an inspired choice.

   2009 February 13, Mark Lawson, “A tabloid Carmen”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Feb 2025

1. ChristianityMount Megiddo, a hill in modern Israel near the kibbutz of Megiddo, which is the site of a prophesized final battle between the forces of good and evil before the Last Judgment.

   For they are the ſprettes off devyls workynge myracles⸝ to go outt vnto the kynges off the erth and off the whole worlde to gaddre them to the battayle off that grett daye off God allmyghty. […] And he gaddered them togedder into a place called in the hebrue tonge Armagedon.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Revelacion off Sanct Jhon the Devine xvj:[14 and 16], folio cccxxxvj, recto

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   For they are the ſpirits of deuils working miracles, which goe forth vnto the Kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battell of that great day of God Almighty. […] And hee gathered them together into a place, called in the Hebrewe tongue, Armageddon.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 16:14 and 16, signature [Aa4], recto, column 1

2. broadlyChristianityThe battle itself.

   And so, unfortunately, this great and spreading network of railways, that recently showed such promise as a major instrument in the modern development of China, must be left for the time being in the melting-pot of Armageddon.

   1941 October, F. S. Bond, “The Railways of China”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 440

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   This day will to the Christian world be even more awful and tremendous than the day of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem was to the Jewish nation. As the believing Jews were delivered from that destruction, so shall the true disciples of Christ be saved in the day of Armageddon: […]

   1813, William Cuninghame, “The Fourteenth Chapter of the Apocalypse”, in A Dissertation on the Seals and Trumpets of the Apocalypse, and the Prophetical Period of Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years, London: […] [J. Brettell] for J[ohn] Hatchard, […], →OCLC, page 314

plural Armageddons · alternative armageddon

1. countableuncountableChristianityA catastrophic or great conflict, especially one regarded as likely to destroy the human race or the world; (loosely) the end of the world.

   Some say the end is near / Some say we'll see Armageddon soon / I certainly hope we will / I sure could use a vacation from this […]

   1996 September 17, Maynard James Keenan, Adam Jones, Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor, “Ænema”, in Ænima, performed by Tool, New York, N.Y.: Zoo Entertainment, →OCLC

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   I shall know that your good is mine: ye shall feel that my strength is yours: / In that day of Armageddon, at the last great fight of all, / That Our Home stand together and the pillars do not fall.

   1896, Rudyard Kipling, “[The Seven Seas.] England’s Answer.”, in The Seven Seas, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 16

   In comparison to [Richard] Nixon-Mao [Zedong], terrorism and armageddon, Anna Nicole Smith [as the subject of Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera Anna Nicole (2011)] may seem lightweight, but it could prove an inspired choice.

   2009 February 13, Mark Lawson, “A tabloid Carmen”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Feb 2025

   [T]he bomb did exist; it existed in our subconscious, our nightmares about what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the actual nuclear Armageddons. We'd perhaps seen grainy news pictures of the two ruined cities, fields of ashes and human dots, but little else.

   2012, Richard Lingeman, “Epilogue: Why Korea? Why Nagasaki? Confessions of a Cold Warrior (II)”, in The Noir Forties: The American People from Victory to Cold War, New York, N.Y.: Nation Books, →ISBN, page 371

   Synonyms: Apocalypse, doomsday

2. attributivebroadlycountableoftenuncountableChristianityA type of chess game, usually played when a match would otherwise end in a draw, where black wins drawn games and white is given more time as compensation.

   [Michael] Crichton has just been too shrewd to cast his lot with the boys who play Armageddon chess [referring to military thinktanks]. He's realized that the work for which they pay mere thousands can be sold to the public for millions.

   1971 April 30, “The Screen: Germ of an Idea [review of The Andromeda Strain (1971)]”, in James O’Gara, editor, Commonweal: A Weekly Review of Public Affairs, Literature and the Arts, volume XCIV, number 8, New York, N.Y.: Commonweal Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 190

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   Now came sudden death. Armageddon chess: and for one the sobriquet didn't seem inappropriate. […] In Armageddon chess, White had five minutes to make all his moves and Black only four: but White has to win, because a draw is counted as a Black victory.

   2012, Daniel Blake, chapter 5, in White Death, London: Harper, HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 28